Preview U90kg Tashkent: has Lasha Bekauri enough match rythm

Lasha Bekauri took his time to get back into competition after he won the U90kg gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. And when he did return, earlier this month, it was not in a Grand Slam or Grand Prix but a relatively smaller European Open in Oberwart, which he won handily.

Uzbekistan has the number one seed position by Davlat Bobonov U90kg. Mihael Zgank is certainly a man who we shouldn’t forget in this pool. 2019 World Champion Noel van ‘t End is not far and will battle with Portugal Anri Egutidze for a place in the quarters. Silva Morales and Majdov are big names who will pick up their best assets to reach the quarters.

Olympic Champion Lasha Bekauri is seeded as fourth bit perhaps the number one contender for the world title U90kg. He is in the pool with Kosuke Mashiyama, read more about him. On the other side of the table Mehdiyev is super smart and can he resist Christian Parlati, a man with ambitions. Olympic silver medallist Eduard Trippel will challenge Mehdiyev for a place in the semi final. Jesper Smink is eager to gold him off. Krisztian Toth won bronze last year in Budapest and seems to have a good draw this time.

The natural question is whether just that one competition is enough preparation for the World Championships.

For sure, he will have a lot of challengers. Among them is his compatriot Luka Maisuradze, the reigning European Champion.

Other top players that will try to get in his way are Mammadali Mehdiyev (AZE), Ivan Felipe Silva Morales (CUB), Komronshokh Ustopiriyon (TJK), Noel Van ‘t End (NED), Nemanja Majdov (SRB), Krisztian Toth (HUN), Christian Parlati (ITA) and of course, his Olympic final opponent, Eduard Trippel (GER).

This category is a toss-up with many top players in play but the lead contender probably is Bekauri.